Aiming high with the Highlander in High Lagaard (solo run)

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High, erm, hi!

Today I restarted my Highlander solo run (Expert Mode, of course) because of a somewhat stupid reason. Recently, I discovered one can take screenshots via Miiverse, so I decided to share this adventure with every interested reader on the forums.
The run was started as New Game+, but only my statistics from my first Story playthrough were taken over (no raised level cap, no drawn maps, no compendium etc., only numbers of enemies slain and the like).

Name of the hero: Ciallan
Guild of the hero: Justice
Name of the cafe: High Cafe

Well, what's Ciallan's goal? Bringing Justice to the labyrinth of High Lagaard, of course. And aiming high, for the floating castle and beyond!

2016/03/15:
- Put the first skill points into Spear Mastery and Phys. ATK up, the first because of Legion Thrust and Burst (great for regular encounters - same TP cost as Draining Thrust/Burst, but with higher damage and no HP sacrifice due to a lack of other party members!) and the second for three points of Turning Tide (decent heal when killing things simultaneously).
- Out of the very first encounters, Hedgehogs are by far the worst. They got stab resistance, are pretty fast and use Desperate Needle when hurt.
My levelling strategy until lvl 8 was pretty straightforward: Go out, kill groups with Hedgehogs with Gae Bolg (Force Break skill) and other encounters with Legion Thrust and normal attacks. Get back to town and out again to reload the Force bar.
- When Ciallan was confident enough, he went for his first mission. There was only one encounter with a Crawler, which was quickly finished by Gae Bolg. Well, most encounters which otherwise would have ended in Turn 1 for the Highlander relied on the use of Gae Bolg (and returning to the city again).
- On 3F, Ciallan farmed Ladybugs for their carapaces, which - along with some gathered items - unlocks Hasta, a pretty nice early game spear. Wild Wings fell victim to Gae Bolg, so nothing new here.

And here's the first screenshot of this run, showing the hero in his current equipment:

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2016/03/16:

- Grinded like a madman before I got to work. Switched to Delayed Charge and Bloodlust (1 point each). It's time to take on FOEs!



- First prey: The Vampire bat. Needed some proper preparation, but luckily, I found a decent Hard Shell grimoire.



After several tries, I got lucky with Head Pierce and could kill it without many problems:



- Next prey: The Ragelope. This was surprisingly easy with a Stab Charm (which protected me both from its and my own attacks, lol).



The conditional drop was sponsored by Limitless+Raging Edge grimoire.

Edit: Currently going for the Raptor, but that paralysis is a bitch. Had it at ~5% several times, but pretty much out if TP...

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2016/03/17:

- Aaand the Raptor fell. This fella (pun intended) was pretty tough because of his paralyzing skill which sometimes blocked all my actions three subsequent times, which meant certain death. But nevertheless, I bested it in the end.



- Well, after that, there was only Chimaera left (didn't have the patience for the Terrible Hunter). Grinded a bit more and prepared for battle. After several tries using Delayed Charge I changed my setup into a very TP conserving one, which involved Hard Shell (7), Healing Rhythm (5), Double Attack (1) and the passive proccs from Bloodlust.


(The shield needs the Electrified Shell from the King Snail. Got it with help of a Volt Prelude Grimoire)

- My strategy proved pretty effective, BUT it needed maaaany Medica IIs. Chimaera's attacks are pretty straightforward at first (needed the Venom Ring nevertheless). It starts using Menacing Roar at about 50% HP, which decreases defenses. At around 33%, it begins using Double Strike, which is a pretty nasty attack, dealing around 2x40 dmg to Ciallan, so I had to use evene more Medicas then. When its HP drop into the red area, it stops using Menacing Roar altogether, leaving even less room to breathe. Well, it didn't matter in the end, and Ciallan was victorious!

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2016/03/20:
- The last days Ciallan had much work to do. Mapping B1F of Ginnugagap, beating the FOE there (which was stupidly easy in comparison) and also making his way into the second stratum. Regular encounters are mostly pretty simple, some need the Gae Bolg treatment. Well, arrived on 10F today, yay!

- Mentionable enemy: The Honey Bear. Honestly, that bugger was much more trouble than I remembered him to be in my normal playthroughs, so I needed to start studying it. If its HP are above 50%, its pattern is attack, Destructive Claw (a multihit that hurts) and a break turn. Under 50% HP it changes into Destructive Claw, Destructive Claw and a break turn. Defending with the Hard Shell buff on the skill turns was essential, or I wouldn't have recovered in time. But in the end, two force boosted Legion Bursts and Gae Bolg finished it!


(Sorry for the dark screenshot, my reaction was a bit delayed)

- And to add a second screenshot to the pile (seriously, there wasn't much going on other than exploring and gathering materials), here is Ciallan's current status:



UPDATE:
- Defeated the Basilisk! I attempted it at around lvl 28 before, but its HP halving debuff AND Impairing Claws were a little bit too much for Ciallan. So I levelled up until 35, got the best equipment I could find, ate the max HP up food and got him good this time. Had to use three Force boosted Legion Bursts for his eye phases every time though.

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2016/03/21 & 22:
- Ciallan retired at lvl 40 and came back after some time, earning four additional skillpoints, yay!
- And so he decided it's time to hunt some Auburn Thicket FOEs. The first one, the Tree Sponge, is needed for a quest, so why not? Well, maybe because those things have a nasty counter attack to physical damage... But surprisingly, they were pretty easy using Bloodlust 19 (10+9 Grimoire), Hard Shell (7) and Healing Rhythm (10). So the turns were just spent by using Hard Shell, defending, triggering Bloodlust attacks and rebuffing. Because that was funny as hell, I did it four times in a row, gaining the maximum quest reward and an item to sell in the shop.



- The next one was the Attacking Cactus. The strategy was almost the same. After figuring out their pattern, I just rebuffed at their counterattack turns. (no screenshot)

- Baby Salamanders were a bit nasty. They have a mutlihit attack, a fire attack, which forced me to equip a Fire Talisman, and a debuff which reduces defense and has a chance to inflict head bind. Luckily, the last two skills can be disabled by head binding them, which I did via Head Pierce. And so, after a few tries, this FOE also fell victim to Justice.



- And then I thought, "Hey, why not the Fire Drake, too?". Those things have a nasty skill that inflicts fear and a stronger fire attack than the Salamanders, but both skills can also be disabled via head bind. Due to some unlucky fear turns, my TP was getting dangerously low at around 50% of its HP, but then...


... Head Pierce's instakill kicked in. Oh well.

- Their regular drop unlocks the Inferno Helm, which gives me a bit of fire resistance for the fight against the Flame Demon. The standard strategy worked pretty well. Used a Fire Mist for the last few turns when I ran out of Medica IIs, but the rest was pretty uncomplicated. Gels fell after two boosted Legion Bursts (or three when my attack power got decreased), and the last wave in the back row got hit by Gae Bolg.



Now it's time to explore Ginnugagap a bit more and get some winter clothes...

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2016/03/23:
- There are two (optional) bosses before Esbat: Arachne and the DLC toad. I got a Fire Prelude (7) and a High Regen (10) Grimoire recently, and they were perfect for my purpose...
- Arachne is all about damage over time and binds. One of her strongest attacks inflicts poison, which I prevented by equipping a Venom Ring. Other than that, my strategy was simple: Maintain Fire Prelude and High Regen, attack normally and defend on her poison attack turn. A fiery Bloodlust at lvl 19 does a pretty decent job:


(Lol, she looks like she's singing)

- I used the same Grimoires for the Giant Toad, but replaced the Venom Ring with a Frost Charm because of the nasty Hydro Pump attack. That fight was slightly harder than the one against Arachne, but nothing I couldn't handle.



- And now, the time of the really nasty bosses will begin. I'll probably have to level up to 60 or so for Esbat and farm some more materials for better equipment...

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2016/03/24 & 25:
- FOE time! I got a Grimoire with amplified selfheal recently, making life a lot easier for me. Again, Fire Prelude and High Regen paired with Bloodlust and normal attacks proved to be very effective (used Guard Order for the Evil Eye, though), making 3rd stratum FOEs a joke. Ambush Wolves were a bit more interesting, but forgot to make a screenshot...







- After some time, only guild Esbat remained on my to do-list. The fight until they activate their Force Boosts is pretty unspectacular, but after that, timing is crucial. Wilhelm, who has an absurd turn speed, almost one shotted Ciallan with his elemental rounds in Force Boost, so I had to get rid of Artelinde before she could do anything after that attack. After several tries I got a better feeling for their HP and the last three turns of the fight ended with two Force Boosted Legion Bursts and Gae Bolg. Too bad I don't have the means of recording a video in decent quality, because this was really nerve-wrecking...